You Can't Trust Anyone These Days
by standingon.words
Summary: Morgan comes to Cynthia for help after noticing that Severa's favorite hair brush had gone missing! Will Cynthia be able to track down the thief who nabbed it, or will the criminal get off scot-free?


Cynthia wandered around the camp aimlessly. It looked like it was going to be a boring day. She would need to think up a way to keep herself entertained. She was drifting about camp to see if she could find something to do when Morgan came up to her. The other girl looked worried.

"Is something wrong?" Cynthia asked.

"Yeah!" She responded. "I went to borrow Severa's hair brush earlier— you know that really nice one that she really likes— and it was missing! I looked all over, but I couldn't find it! Someone must've stolen it!"

"A thief?! In our camp!? That's no good at all! Well, I guess when they're stealing from our enemies it is, but if they're stealing from us then it's definitely not good!"

"Yeah, that's why I wanted you to come with me to talk to Lucina or your dad to report it."

Cynthia deflated. Everyone always went to her sister when they had an actual problem, and never to her. Fortunately, she quickly managed to forge a plan.

"Nonono! We can't go to either of them! It's what the thief would expect. I think we should try and find them on our own— that way we can catch them by surprise!"

Morgan's eyes lit up.

"Ooh! That sounds like fun!"

Cynthia raised her hand to stop Morgan.

"Detective work is not fun, I'll have you know! It's serious business!"

"O-oh..."

"It doesn't matter. Come on, Watson! The game is afoot!"

"Wh-what?"

"Er, nevermind. Come on!"

* * *

The two girls arrived at the crime scene a few minutes later and Morgan showed Cynthia where Severa usually kept the brush.

""Hmm... The most likely culprit is someone close to her," Cynthia mused. "Obviously it can't be you or else you wouldn't have come to me. Noire likes to hang on Severa a lot... I bet she was just waiting for her to let her guard down so she could have the perfect opportunity to strike!"

"Do you think? That doesn't seem like Noire at all..."

"That's all part of her plan! Who would suspect poor, meek little Noire of such villainous deeds? It's the perfect crime! Come on, we better track her down before she can dispose of the evidence!"

* * *

They found Noire at the archery range, where she was practicing. She had an arrow readied, but that didn't stop Cynthia from stomping right over to her and brusquely tapping on her shoulder. Noire jumped a foot in the air and released the arrow, which went high and flew off into the distance. She spun around.

"Cynthia?! What did you do that for?! That arrow might have hit someone!" She said, near frantic.

Cynthia winced. "Oh, er... Whoops. Wait— don't distract me, villain!"

"V-villain?! What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb! I know all about how you cozied up to Severa to lure her into a false sense of security so you could have away with her favorite hair brush!"

"Wh-what?! I wouldn't steal from Severa! Sh-she'd disembowel me! A-also, we're friends!"

"A likely story!"Cynthia said, poking Noire in the chest with an accusatory finger.

Suddenly the timid girl's expression grew angry.

"YOU DAFT BIMBO! I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MISSING BRUSH! LEAVE ME BE BEFORE I USE YOU FOR TARGET PRACTICE!"

She didn't need to say twice— Cynthia and Morgan were long gone before they could take her up on her threat.

* * *

Once she believed they were a safe distance away Cynthia stopped running to catch her breath.

"I think... She's probably innocent." She said through her panting.

"Are you sure...?" Morgan asked.

"It's a safe bet."

"What next then?"

Cynthia thought for a moment.

"Noire's creepy mom! I bet she must've taken the brush so she could use the hairs on it for some kind of curse or something!"

"She can't curse my sister! We have to stop her!"

"Don't you worry, Morgan! We'll save her!"

The girls rushed to the far side of the camp, to the tent Tharja always had to herself, desperately hoping that the sorceress had yet to try any creepy spells on Severa.

"Stop witch! I know you're trying to curse my friend!" Cynthia said as she stormed into the tent.

Morgan followed her in meekly (Tharja always scared her).

"What are you talking about?" Tharja asked. She didn't even turn to acknowledge the girls, but it was still clear in her voice that she had no patience to spare them.

"W-we..." Cynthia's bravado quickly drained. "We know you took Severa's hair brush so you could use her hairs for some curse or something!"

Tharja turned and glared at Cynthia. It may not have killed her, but it definitely took at least a decade off her life expectancy. She stepped toward her until they were only a foot apart.

"Little girl, if I had really planned on using the hairs from a brush I wouldn't do something as obvious as actually taking the brush. Now, if the two of you don't leave immediately I'm going to turn you into a matching toad and toadstool."

Cynthia nodded quickly, and the two beat a hasty retreat.

"Another dead end! We'll never get to the bottom of this at this rate."

The two kept walking, until they found themselves at the sparring field. Kjelle was there, practicing on her own.

"Aha!" Cynthia said.

She marched over to the other girl.

"Oh, hello Cynthia," Kjelle said once she noticed her approaching. "Are you here to challenge me to a duel?"

"What? No, Morgan and I just wanted to ask you abou-"

"You two can come at me two-on-one then, I'm up for a challenge. We can talk afterwards."

"O-okay," Cynthia was taken off guard by the challenge, but wasn't about to turn it down.

Kjelle handed the two a pair of wooden swords.

"Okay," Kjelle said. "Come at me, you two."

The fight was over quicker than it began, as neither Cynthia nor Morgan were anywhere near a match for Kjelle at sparring.

"You two need a lot of practice. If this had been a real battle you would both be dead," Kjelle scolded them. "Now, what did you want to talk about?"

"You didn't steal Severa's hair brush, did you?" Cynthia asked, rubbing her head where she knew a big ugly lump was going to sprout thanks to the fight.

Kjelle raised her eyebrow at the other girl. "No, of course not. Why would I? I don't care about that kind of thing."

"Oh yeah... Right." Cynthia groaned. "We'll be off, then..."

Cynthia helped Morgan to her feet, and the two limped away.

* * *

After taking a quick stop to have Brady give them a quick healing Cynthia and Morgan were back to trying to find their culprit, but again were without any leads.

"Maybe Yarne?" Cynthia thought out loud. "He has a lot of hair. I bet he would need a brush."

Morgan just shrugged, but the two set off to find the Taguel anyway.

* * *

They found Yarne wandering around camp.

"Yarne did you take Severa's hair brush?" After the beating by Kjelle, Cynthia wasn't going to waste any more time getting down to business.

"Wh-what?" He asked, confused.

"Morgan noticed it was missing. You have a lot of hair, so I bet you could use a brush. Do you have anything to do with this?"

"N-no! I wouldn't steal from Severa! I try to keep myself OUT of life threatening situations, thank you very much."

"Oh, right. Well, do you have any idea who might have taken it?"

"I don't think there's anyone in the camp who would want to risk Severa's wrath."

"Well, someone has to have taken it."

"Yeah, but I don't have any idea who would have done it."

"Okay, but just know that you're still a suspect!" Cynthia said as she turned and walked away from Yarne.

* * *

The girls walked aimlessly for a few minutes when Cynthia stopped suddenly and sighed.

"This is hopeless! I thought being a detective would be easier than this— or that it would at least involve less humiliating beatings!" She exclaimed.

"M-maybe we should go to Lucina after all," Morgan suggested.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Come on, let's go find her."

* * *

They finally found Lucina in her tent after a little bit of searching. She was reading a book, but when the two entered she looked up.

"Cynthia, Morgan? Do you need anything?"

"Yeah! Sort of. Morgan came and told me that Severa's hair brush was missing. We tried looking around for clues but we couldn't find any. We think someone stole it!"

Lucina cocked her head. "Her hair brush? The nice one she got for her birthday?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, I was just talking to her only a little while ago, and she actually had it with her."

"What." Cynthia said, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, she definitely had it just before."

"Th-thanks, Luci."

Cynthia and Morgan walked out of Lucina's tent, then ran as fast as they could back to Severa's. They barged right in, and sure enough, the brush was laying right on her sleeping bag.

"Aaaah!" Cynthia shouted as she saw it.

Severa, who had been facing away from the entrance to the tent admiring herself in a small mirror, jumped. She put the mirror down as she turned around.

"You idiot!" She said. "What was that for?!"

"Your brush! We thought it had been stolen! We spent all day trying to find the culprit!"

Severa just stared at the two girls incredulously.

"You're both idiots! As a matter of fact I hid it myself, because I was tired of Morgan taking it without asking."

Cynthia spun around and shoved her finger in Morgan's face.

"YOU'RE the villain here!"

"Wh-what?! B-but... I only took the brush because I thought using it might help me remember things... Like because you use it so close to your head? I-I thought..."

Cynthia lowered her hand, and Severa's expression softened.

"Oh, Morgan..." Severa said. She picked up the brush and walked over to give Morgan a hug. Then, after letting go, she bopped Morgan on the head with the brush.

"Ow!" Morgan protested.

"You dummy! This isn't even from the future; it wouldn't give you any memories of us together, even if it did work like that!"

"O-oh, yeah."

"You're my sister, so I guess I have to let you use my stuff if you want, but ask next time, okay?"

"O-okay."

Severa shot Cynthia an unimpressed sneer.

"You're still an idiot," she said, "but I heard Kjelle really gave you a thrashing earlier, so I'll let you off easy this time."

Cynthia stuck her tongue out at Severa.

"Well you're still a jerk!"

She turned and left the sisters alone.

Her day as a detective may not have worked out as she had expected, but the case was solved, so it wasn't a complete farce. Most importantly, she had a lot more fun that she would have had otherwise. It was about dinnertime, so Cynthia started to head over to the mess tent.

"Maybe I should be a professional detective," she said to herself, grinning.


End file.
